Chapter Eleven: Biting Bullets

Our shoes clacked quietly on the wooden floor. Paulo was about 20 centimetres behind me, breathing literally down my neck. There, at the end of the hall, the staircase and tucked next to it the fabulous fern. I didn't care what Li said; that fern had been extremely helpful and I vowed then and there to buy one and put it in my flat as a tribute.

'Stay here,' I whispered to Paulo. He obediently stopped and I continued alone, making my way quickly towards my hidden bag. Once it was safely in my arms, I waved a hand at Paulo and he hightailed it out of there.

So close. So close to being the silent yet deadly duo. But no, I had to trip on the doormat on the way out. Paulo was already halfway down the front path, waiting for me to get my act together and move, when I caught my toe on the stupid mat and smashed into the wall. There was an answering thud from the lounge room, followed by some swearing and then shouts of alarm. Turned out that the house wasn't as empty as we thought.

'Go!' I yelled, abandoning any efforts of subtlety. Paulo hesitated then took off down the path. As I straightened up and picked up my bag again, I could hear the car engine roar into life and the slightly more worrying sound of footsteps behind me, getting steadily louder.

'I think it's time I left,' I muttered to no one in particular as I sprinted for the car. Hex had parked so the front passenger seat was closest to me. Paulo was leaning forwards, holding the door open for me. I dove into my seat, the door clicking shut behind me, just as the car shot forwards. Now I had no complaints about Hex's driving as we actually were being followed.

'Screw the speed limit!' Li shouted. 'Go on, Hex! Let's see how fast this baby can gooooooo!'

Paulo's expression was absolutely priceless. He was pressed against his door, looking at Li out of the corner of his eye as if wondering what sort of strange creature he happened to be sharing the back seat with.

It was late at night so thankfully the backstreets were deserted. I don't think Hex really knew where he was going. If he did, then I had another question: why the hell were we going back to the friggin' industrial estate?

The headlights of the car behind us were dangerously close. I sunk lower in my seat, expecting to be shot to smithereens at any second. It was almost a surprise- a welcome one at that- when no shots came and the car just continued along behind, corner after corner. There was no doubt that out pursuers' car would have been much faster then the crapmobile, so we didn't they overtake us, perform a nifty handbrake turn and force us to stop? Why were they just following along behind. It was almost like they were- Great.

I turned to Hex. 'I think this is a trap. They're herding us like sheep.'

He nodded grimly. 'Yeah. And we've got no choice but the play along.'

Alex tensed up as the car pulled into the parking space. Jasper was in the seat behind him, no doubt with gun at the ready, and Harry was driving. His hands shook as Jasper ordered them out of the car.

'In front,' Jasper hissed to Alex, tugging Harry roughly to his side. Alex obeyed, shuffling along, still shaking a bit.

'Where are we going?' Alex risked a quick glance behind at Jasper. He was scanning the area, eyes narrowed, looking for something...

'The underground parking lot. Hurry, but don't even think of doing anything clever or he gets it. Understand?' Harry flinched as Jasper dug his elbow into his side and Alex quickly nodded.

'I understand.'

With a squeal of protest from the tyres and the lovely stench of burning rubber, we pulled up in the industrial lot main car park.

'Spilt up?' I suggested as we all tumbled out and the headlights from our pursuers' car lit up the scene. I meant it as a suggestion, something I wanted the others' opinions on, but they didn't take it that way.

'Good plan.' Paulo nodded and bolted for one of the southern buildings. For a brief moment, Li stared after him before spinning around and taking off in the opposite direction. Hex went left and I was forced with no other option but to move to the right. Now, I would classify myself as a pretty independent person. Despite having people constantly looking after me for my entire childhood, I didn't necessarily enjoy it. I prefer going my own way and if that means working alone then fine. But at that moment, as I ran as fast as I could for the relative safety of one of the buildings, I wished with all my heart that I had at least one of my friends with me. I was sick of having to go it alone, sick of being the one to make all the decisions, decisions that could not only affect me but countless other people as well. I wanted to be back with my friends, as Alpha Force again, with Li giving us little pep talks and injecting enthusiasm into everything we did; with Paulo telling us to relax and take it easy and that everything will work out; with Hex arguing with me over anything and then ignoring all of us while he did something tricky on his palmtop; with Alex being a heck of a good leader and reassuring us that what we were doing was the best thing possible. Instead, I was alone in a half finished workshop, not knowing the exact whereabouts of three of my friends and frantic over the sudden and as yet unexplained disappearance of the fourth. Why couldn't ever be simple?

'Bad plan,' Hex muttered to himself. 'Very bad plan.'

Creeping through the upper level of one of the buildings, Hex's nerves were frazzled. He'd somehow ended up in the most dilapidated building n the complex and the creaking did nothing to help the situation.

The creak of floorboards below made him freeze. Through one of the numerous gaping holes in the floor, Hex caught a glimpse of blue. Was one of their pursuers wearing blue? The blue moved and Hex wasn't sure if he could start breathing again: just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it's not still there. Or worse, closer.

For the next five minutes, Hex crept from one end of the building to the other, avoiding the man in blue and his accomplice. From the snippets of conversation he heard whilst alternatively shadowing and fleeing from them, Hex realised they were getting frustrated. Was that in their favour or not? If they were getting annoyed, they would be more likely to give up or make stupid mistakes. Then again, they were also more likely to be trigger happy and unforgiving.

Just as that thought passed through Hex's head, gunshots echoed from across the complex. Hex instinctively dove to the ground, even though he wasn't being shot at. As the shots came again, Hex realised with a sense of dread where the shots were coming from: the building almost directly opposite from the one he was in. The building that Amber had headed towards.

Li had been playing a similar game to the one Hex was playing, although her variation involved throwing things at the man trying to find her and imitating a ghost, wailing and clanking on bits of metal. The guy didn't look freaked out, just really pissed off.

'Alright you little shit. Come on out now or I'll get really mad.' The guy shouted the words whilst spinning slowly around, fists clenched. Sitting on a beam high up on the other side of the building, Li heard the threat and giggled. She slid along the beam and climbed up through a hole in the floor. Once she was standing on the second level, she tiptoed her way along the building's length, occasionally wailing. There was no answer and she stopped, puzzled. Although it was the middle of the night, a full moon had kept the building relatively well lit and Li suddenly found herself with limited visibility.

'What the hell?' she started to say, but broke off with a fit of coughing. Li's eyes widened as she realised what had happened. Still coughing and waving a hand in front of her face, Li dropped to the ground. Where had the fire been started? Unlike the newer industrial buildings, the old ones in the complex had been made with a lot of wood. A fire in any part of the building would have the whole lot ablaze in minutes. Panic building inside of her, Li wriggled along the floorboards, looking for the way down. Her head bumped against a wall and she backed up, heading in another direction. When she hit another wall a minute later, Li started to hyperventilate. Choking on the smoke and with wide eyes, Li moved in yet another direction, more than aware of the consequences if she didn't find a way out.

Sorry for slow update but I've had a surprisingly busy holiday. I have today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday) left free. I'm back at school on Tuesday, at school for nine weeks and then free! Yeah! I really want to get the last two chapters of The Assassin's Touch doen and loaded, so keep a look out because one (hopefully) will be up today or tomorrow.